


Something Lost is Something Gained

by EliteDelieght



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Relationship, akane... not so much, the cat lives dw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28162353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliteDelieght/pseuds/EliteDelieght
Summary: Years later, the night would come back to Aoi in snapshots.It wouldn’t be predictable. Sometimes he could feel when a memory was creeping up on him. On Akane’s birthday, or the anniversary of the game itself. The memories would sometimes leave him shaking in place, regretting what he was unable to save.But sometimes they passed like a cold breeze. Chilling, and sad. But in the end, all Aoi could do was pull his coat tighter around himself and trudge on.-[Gift for hugepolecat3298 for Zecret Santa 2020! Prompt: "aoilight angst... light comforts aoi after the first nonary game... oughhh thats so good" and a lil bit of "anything with seven! especially how he interacts with the 999 cast... i love him so dearly" <3]
Relationships: Light Field/Kurashiki Aoi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 10
Collections: ZEcret Santa 2020





	Something Lost is Something Gained

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so happy to be able to participate in Zecret Santa for the fourth year in a row!!! I look forward to it every year, and I was so lucky to get such wonderful prompts. I really hope you guys like it! Feel free to message me to talk abt the fic or zero escape at yamibakuraofficial on tumblr! <333

Later on, the night would come back to Aoi in snapshots.

His fists banging against metal, his voice raw as his screams mixed with Akane’s. The heat rolling off the walls of the furnace as he stumbled in. The way what remained of his sister fell to pieces in his desperate grip. 

He would remember the way the boat lurched beneath his feet as the man- the police officer?- grabbed his arms, forcing him back up the metal stairs. The echoing sound of frantic footsteps climbing ever higher. The cold air that stung against his tear-stained face.

The rowboat that was moored to the side of the ship was already crowded with other children, but the blind boy who had taken charge cleared a spot for them before they were lowered into the frothing waves. Vaguely, Aoi would remember the police officer rowing them towards the horizon and away from their brief prison. By then he had gone numb to the world. The frigid night air seemed to sink into his bones the further out they rowed, chilling him despite the coat he still wore.

The children were packed tightly into the rowboat, huddled together. One of the little girls was crying; the one with the pink overalls, who had previously in the night, clung to him in fear when they had found a shark suspended- lifeless- in a tank. Akane had laughed, later, when he asked if she had been scared.

“It’s okay, Aoi-nii,” she had giggled, “she needed it more than me.”

Now, it seemed, no one needed him at all. There was a horrible urge to throw himself into the churning water at that thought - at the idea that he had no reason to continue trudging through the horror story that was his own life. Wouldn’t it be ironic, to freeze to death in the waves where Akane had burned?

The world had never been kind to the Kurashikis. It was a fact that Aoi had made himself comfortable with long ago. He had survived the death of his parents, the death of their grandmother and their subsequent flight onto the streets. He had made it his mission to take care of Akane- to keep them from being separated or sent to an orphanage. The apartment they lived in was small, and he had surrendered the single bed to Akane at the very beginning. He was working any job that would accept a teenager with no experience, and often found himself up at odd hours coming and going regardless. 

Every day was a challenge. Every night he went to bed exhausted, and would wake up the same way. But no matter what happened, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. A single, solitary reason to get up every morning. Akane’s smile was a reminder of why he had to keep going. She was what carried him through the hardships and into the next day.

But now there was nothing. Just the empty, gnawing horror inside of him and _ Akane, Akane, Akane _ , playing endlessly through his mind. 

A warm hand slipped into his own, holding tight. It was the sort of grip Aoi’s sister employed to “keep him from floating away into his own thoughts”. But when he followed the line of the arm, he found the other boy from the ship. Light. The one with the clovers, who had helped Aoi wrangle the other panicked children hours ago. 

His mouth was set in a grim line, but his grip was firm. No words were shared between them, and soon Aoi found himself turning to watch the tip of the cruise-liner disappear beneath the waves, taking whatever was left of his family with it. The hand in his own tethered him to their little lifeboat, keeping him prisoner by refusing to let him slip away. 

Later, as the sun began to lighten the horizon, that same hand pulled him onto a cold and lonely beach. Aoi half expected Light to let him go to tend to the younger children, calming and organizing them as he had at the beginning of their ill-fated adventure. But the other boy seemed content to let the police officer take charge. He simply stood at Aoi’s side, letting him tremble as silent tears continued to streak down his face.

The police officer- who had introduced himself to the children as Tanaka- shot them several worried looks, but ultimately let Light handle the crying teenager. He directed their ragtag group down the beach, and Aoi found himself stumbling along. 

The light of day was watery and weak through the overcast clouds, but after being locked on the Gigantic all night it was almost too strong. He squinted through his tears as they carved their way through the sand, shivering in the cold morning air. Aoi’s instincts begged for him to turn around. To find Akane and hold her hand. To make sure she was warm, and safe, and cared for.

But he had failed her. He had failed her and she was gone.

“It will be alright.” Light’s voice came as a surprise. Closer than the chatter of the other children, but softer as well. Aoi felt anger rise in him at his simple words, but only sniffled. He wiped at his tears with the sleeve of his free arm. “I know it doesn’t seem like it right now… but you’ll be alright eventually.”

“Shut up.” Aoi’s voice broke in his grief. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I lost- I lost my-”

Light’s grip tightened as a fresh wave of tears overtook Aoi, his shoulders heaving with the force of his sobs. Vaguely, he wondered if he would spend the rest of his life crying, or if they would dry up eventually. “I know how it feels to lose someone. Like your entire world is ending.” Light continued to pull him along, voice as gentle as the rest of him. “I lost my father, when I was younger.”

“This is different.” Aoi whispered brokenly. “Akane was all I had left.”

“... Your parents?” Light turned his head slightly, tilting to face him despite not being able to see. Aoi was pathetically grateful, in a way, that his splotchy, tear-stained face was hidden from at least one person. 

“Dead.” He replied, the hazy memory of his mother’s smile drifting through his mind. 

“Where do you live?” Light’s voice was still gentle, though his grip remained firm.

“I have an apartment. We did. I… I dropped out of school. To work.” He admitted. Sometimes he lied to people- told them he was older than he was, to avoid suspicion. Three part time jobs with a face as young as his often got him strange looks. “But we’ve been gone for so long, I probably don’t even have my jobs anymore. And- and no one would know to feed our cat, and-”

His voice hitched again at the thought of the little kitten Akane had politely requested from Santa the previous year. It had been the most difficult present yet- he had scrounged and scraped what meager funds he had to pay for cat food and litter, even managing to find a few toys for his sister to give to the cat. 

She had named him Mochi, because of how fat and spoiled he had been as a baby. The idea of 

him all alone in their apartment brought Aoi to tears yet again. Light gently tugged them to a stop, letting the rest of the group get ahead of them. He reached out, gently patting at Aoi’s arms, and then up to his shoulders.

“I can’t imagine how overwhelming this is for you.” He said softly. “I know how scared I’ve been, these past few hours. Wondering if my sister is alright. And- and I’m so sorry, that this has happened to you.” Aoi brought his hands up, burying his face in them to try and muffle his own sobs. “But I promise, I’ll do everything I can to help you. I’m sure Officer Tanaka will as well- we’ll find somewhere for you, and…”

He trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words. It didn’t matter if Aoi went back to his empty apartment. Not if Akane wasn’t there, as well. He might as well take to the streets, or check himself into an orphanage the way he had so desperately wanted to avoid.

It didn’t matter anymore, after all.

The arms that wrapped around him were a surprise. Light held him close, clinging to him as tightly as he was able. It was the first time in years that Aoi was held and comforted, instead of the other way around. He clung to the other teenager, gripping the back of his coat even as he stained the shoulder with his tears. 

Light’s voice was soft in his ear, whispering meaningless platitudes as he rubbed a hand in circles on Aoi’s back. As the two oldest children in the Nonary Game, much of the comforting had fallen to them. They had taken charge of the younger kids, ushering them through puzzles and down dark corridors in search of an escape. He had held himself together for Akane, and for the other children. He had pushed through and put on a brave face, as he had for the past two years. 

It was nice, for a change, to let himself break down. To be held and taken care of the way he hadn’t been since his parents had died.

For a moment, Aoi didn’t feel quite so alone. 

There was no way to tell how long they stood like that. The waves crashed against the beach behind them as the sun slowly rose. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before another figure joined them on that lonely beach.

“Hey… you kids alright?” The gruff voice caused Aoi to pull back, feeling like someone had wrung him dry. His tears were dry and tacky on his face, and the despair was still clinging to him like a spector. The absence of his sister would likely never leave him, but it was as though Light’s embrace had managed to hold his shattering pieces together, if only for a moment. 

Tanaka looked down at them, something like guilt in his eyes. “We found a gas station, up that way. There’s a phone we can use to call your folks…” 

Light nodded, pulling back. A shiver of unfamiliar panic ran up Aoi’s spine at the motion, but a moment later a hand slipped back into his own. “Thank you.” He said politely. He offered Aoi a soft smile, and a moment later he was being pulled forward once again.

Years later, the night would come back to Aoi in snapshots.

It wouldn’t be predictable. Sometimes he could feel when a memory was creeping up on him. On Akane’s birthday, or the anniversary of the game itself. The memories would sometimes leave him shaking in place, regretting what he was unable to save.

But sometimes they passed like a cold breeze. Chilling, and sad. But in the end, all Aoi could do was pull his coat tighter around himself and trudge on. It was easier with another person- sometimes Light, who had been there when it happened, and was always willing to listen. Sometimes Clover, who simply dropped herself into Aoi’s lap when she saw him having a bad day.

It wasn’t all bad, however. There were days like this one, where Aoi was curled up on the couch, legs tucked under him and Mochi in his lap. Light and Clover were across the room, happily bickering over a game of checkers. A fire was roaring in the fireplace nearby, and the empty spot next to Aoi didn’t feel quite so sad. He liked to think Akane would be happy, to see him so comfortable. 

Light seemed to sense someone's gaze on him, because he tilted his head towards Aoi as his sister explained where she was moving her pieces. The smile on his face was soft and familiar, and Aoi returned it, even though Light couldn’t see.

Moments like these, he didn’t remember the fire and the pain. All he could remember was Light standing next to him at that lonely payphone and the words he had spoken. 

“I promise. You’ll never be alone.”


End file.
